by Jason Ditz*
February 1, 2026
The Kurdish majority city of Kobane remains under the control of the SDF, and despite yet another deal between Kurdish officials and the Syrian government which was meant to resolve the conflict, the city remains under siege.
As the siege of the city approaches two weeks, the humanitarian situation within is dire. Many civilians fled, when the opportunity presented itself, but for those that remain, there is no sign of relief and they remain reliant on aid convoys being brought into the city.
Though aid from the UN and the Syrian Red Crescent has been brought into the city through humanitarian corridors from the south, that route is challenging because of the siege. Kobane sits right on the Turkish border, and that would seemingly be an easier route for the NGOs to bring aid in.
Turkey, however, is notoriously hostile to the Syrian Kurds, and NGOs are reporting that aid convoys trying to enter Kobane through the border are being blocked by Turkish forces. Turkey allowed the Turkish Red Crescent to send aid into the city a week prior, but the new shipments are stuck at the border.
The NGOs are sending aid from the city of Diyarbakir and the surrounding areas, traveling west to Suruç, and were then meant to cross into Kobane with 25 trucks of humanitarian aid. Turkish officials reportedly told them to use the Öncüpınar crossing, some 170 km further west.
Turkey has kept the Kobane-adjacent border crossing closed since the Kurds gained control of it in fighting against ISIS. With harsh weather and the siege by the Syrian government against Kobane, bringing the aid another 170 km west to cross into central-government controlled Syria and then 170 km back across the Aleppo Governorate in the hopes it wouldn’t get diverted in the course of operations has meant instead, the aid trucks are waiting at the border near Kobani for permission to cross.
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